Tumuli were the most widespread form of monumental tombs in the ancient world. Their impact on landscape, their allurement as well as their symbolic reference to a glorious past can still be felt today. The need of supra-regional and cross-disciplinary examination of this unique phenomenon led to the organisation of an international conference in Istanbul in 2009. The proceedings of TumulIstanbul revolve around the question of the symbolic significance of burial mounds in the 1^st millennium BC in the Eastern Mediterranean and Black-Sea regions, also providing further insight into their Kurgan neighbours from Eurasia.